diff --git a/web/standalone/src/components/WasmTool.tsx b/web/standalone/src/components/WasmTool.tsx
index 95db000..4eb4cf9 100644
--- a/web/standalone/src/components/WasmTool.tsx
+++ b/web/standalone/src/components/WasmTool.tsx
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import { memfsProjectDir } from "@/wasm/constants";
 import { driveProjectIntoTool, type ToolFile } from "@/wasm/kicad-runner";
 import type { CollabWindow } from "@/wasm/collab";
 import { clog, cwarn } from "@/wasm/collab/debug";
-import { createOomWatch } from "@/recovery/oom-watch";
+import { createOomWatch, respawnInNewTab } from "@/recovery/oom-watch";
 import { MemoryExhaustedDialog } from "@/recovery/MemoryExhaustedDialog";
 
 // Tools with a working collab bridge (kicadCollabSnapshot/Apply embind exports).
@@ -349,7 +349,10 @@ export function WasmTool({
       <div id="window-container" />
 
       {oomExhausted && (
-        <MemoryExhaustedDialog onReload={() => window.location.reload()} />
+        <MemoryExhaustedDialog
+          onOpenNewTab={() => respawnInNewTab()}
+          onReload={() => window.location.reload()}
+        />
       )}
 
       {status && (
diff --git a/web/standalone/src/recovery/MemoryExhaustedDialog.tsx b/web/standalone/src/recovery/MemoryExhaustedDialog.tsx
index 5fcab23..954d30b 100644
--- a/web/standalone/src/recovery/MemoryExhaustedDialog.tsx
+++ b/web/standalone/src/recovery/MemoryExhaustedDialog.tsx
@@ -4,20 +4,38 @@ import { BlockingDialog } from "@/preflight/BlockingDialog";
  * Terminal "not enough memory" UI for feature 0002 — shown after the OOM retry
  * chain hits MAX_RETRIES. Reuses 0001's blocking dialog for visual consistency.
  *
- * The copy is honest about the two limitations the spec calls out: a respawn
- * re-opens the same file but loses in-tab edits not yet pushed to the backend /
- * Y.Doc, and `window.close()` may not close the very first (user-opened) tab.
+ * Offers two manual actions:
+ *   - "Open in a new tab" (primary): a user-gesture respawn in a fresh browsing
+ *     context. This sometimes succeeds where the automatic in-place reload did
+ *     not, because a brand-new tab is the most reliable way to actually release
+ *     the OOM'd wasm heap (an in-place reload doesn't, reliably, in every
+ *     browser — notably Firefox).
+ *   - "Reload this tab" (secondary): the simple in-place retry.
+ *
+ * Copy is honest about lost unsaved edits (a respawn re-opens the same file but
+ * loses in-tab edits not yet synced to the backend / Y.Doc).
  */
-export function MemoryExhaustedDialog({ onReload }: { onReload?: () => void }) {
+export function MemoryExhaustedDialog({
+  onOpenNewTab,
+  onReload,
+}: {
+  onOpenNewTab?: () => void;
+  onReload?: () => void;
+}) {
   return (
     <BlockingDialog
       title="Your device ran out of memory"
       description="The editor tried to recover a few times but kept running out of memory, so it stopped to avoid looping. This design is likely too large for this device's available memory."
       reasons={[
         {
-          title: "What you can try",
+          title: "Try a fresh tab",
           detail:
-            "Close other tabs and applications to free memory, use a desktop machine with more RAM, or open a smaller design.",
+            "Opening the editor in a brand-new browser tab (and closing this one) sometimes frees enough memory to continue — especially in Firefox, where reloading in place may not fully release the previous session's memory.",
+        },
+        {
+          title: "Free up memory",
+          detail:
+            "Close other tabs and applications, use a desktop machine with more RAM, or open a smaller design.",
         },
         {
           title: "Unsaved changes",
@@ -26,10 +44,13 @@ export function MemoryExhaustedDialog({ onReload }: { onReload?: () => void }) {
         },
       ]}
       primary={
-        onReload
-          ? { label: "Reload and try again", onClick: onReload }
+        onOpenNewTab
+          ? { label: "Open in a new tab", onClick: onOpenNewTab }
           : undefined
       }
+      secondary={
+        onReload ? { label: "Reload this tab", onClick: onReload } : undefined
+      }
     />
   );
 }
diff --git a/web/standalone/src/recovery/oom-watch.ts b/web/standalone/src/recovery/oom-watch.ts
index 0a17195..1316a60 100644
--- a/web/standalone/src/recovery/oom-watch.ts
+++ b/web/standalone/src/recovery/oom-watch.ts
@@ -308,6 +308,33 @@ export function createOomWatch(opts: OomWatchOptions): OomWatch {
   return { start, stop, onAbort };
 }
 
+/**
+ * User-gesture escape hatch for the terminal dialog: open the editor in a brand
+ * new tab with a clean retry chain, then close this one.
+ *
+ * This is deliberately NOT the automatic recovery path: it runs from a real
+ * click, so `window.open` is not popup-blocked, and a fresh top-level browsing
+ * context is the most reliable way to actually drop the OOM'd wasm heap — an
+ * in-place `location.replace` reload does not reliably release it in every
+ * browser (notably Firefox). `window.close()` may still be refused on the
+ * original, user-opened tab; that's fine — the new tab is the working one and
+ * the user can close the old one. Returns whether a new tab was opened.
+ */
+export function respawnInNewTab(win: Window = window): boolean {
+  const url = new URL(win.location.href);
+  url.searchParams.delete(RETRY_PARAM); // fresh chain — this is a manual retry
+  const opened = win.open(url.toString(), "_blank");
+  if (opened) {
+    try {
+      win.close();
+    } catch {
+      /* original tab may refuse to close — new tab is the survivor anyway */
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
 function safeLocalStorage(win: Window): Storage | null {
   try {
     return win.localStorage;